AT&T Park

Let’s start with last week. Multi time Supercross Champion Chad Reed missed racing at Anaheim 2, because of a crash, broken hand, and surgery. Now, this Friday, the big news (which you can see elsewhere on the home page of Supercross.com) defending AMA Supercross Champion James Stewart is out – broken bone in wrist, surgery yesterday. It’s looking like there will be a ‘changing of the guard’ this year in supercross, as far as the premiere 450 Supercross Champion is concerned! The top two riders in supercross from the past few years – both out of action!

The San Francisco Supercross event is held at AT&T Park – a beautiful venue that is home to baseball’s San Francisco Giants. And today is a a beautiful day as well in San Francisco – a great day for supercross!

Two riders who will not be racing in the 250 Lites West Supercross Class this weekend – KTM’s Tommy Searle and Suzuki rider Ryan Morais. Both had falls last weekend, and are not racing in San Francisco. But both hope to be back in action next weekend at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. In the 250 West practice, Josh Hansen number 100 was quickest in timed practice. Followed closely by Wil Hahn, Broc Tickle, Jake Weimer, and Trey Canard. In 450 Supercross practice, Kevin Windham was the quickest, followed by Ryan Dungey, Ryan Villopoto, Andrew Short, and Josh Hill.

There was a rousing & enthusiastic opening ceremony, that included the swearing in of new service members into the US Military. Very patriotic, and the crowd loved it. The biggest round of applause though in opening ceremonies – for the last rider introduced – series points leader Ryan Dungey!

250 West Heat 1 – Series points leader Jake Weimer 12 with the early lead! And he leads the entire six laps, winning easily!

450 Supercross Heat 1 – Andrew Short number 29 on the Honda out front! He’s followed closely by Ryan Dungey. Short and Dungey look good out front. They are close, with Millsaps back in third. Short and Dungey are putting on a good, close race. Right at the end of lap seven, Dungey jumps a little bit ackwards, allowing Short to pull away on the final lap, and also allows Millsaps into second. Short wins, Millsaps second, and Dungey gets a sixth. The fastest lap times of the night so far as just under 53 seconds.

450 Supercross Heat 2 – Out front early and riding with a purpose, number 2, Ryan Villopoto. Second place belongs to Josh Hill 75 on the L & M San Manuel Yamaha. The finish after eight laps – Villopoto the winner, Hill is second, third goes to Kevin Windham, followed by Michael Byrne.

The start of the 250 West Main Event takes off at 9:13pm! The holeshot goes to – Trey Canard! Jake Weimer is second! Josh Hansen get pushed out of the first corner and off the actual race course! At the end of the fourth lap, it’s Canard leading Weimer by a little over 3 seconds. Third place is Broc Tickle. Wil Hahn is running ninth. At the end of 12 laps of the 15 lap main event, Canard is running strong. Close to four second lead over Weimer in second. Third is still Broc Tickle, riding well, and Wil Hahn has moved into fourth. His team-mate Cole Seely is fifth. At the end of the 15 lap main event, it’s Trey Canard with his first West Supercross win of the year! Jake Weimer is second, and still leads the point standings. Third goes to Broc Tickle, followed by Wil Hahn and Cole Seely!

At 9:42pm, the 450 Supercross Class blasts off! The leader! Ryan Dungey! He’s followed by Davi Millsaps, Josh Hill, Nick Wey, Chris Blose, Ryan Villopoto, Andrew Short, Ivan Tedesco and Kevin Windham. As they settle in after five laps, it’s Dungey still leading, Josh Hill is second, Ryan Villopoto has moved to third … then Milllsaps, Wey, Short, Tedesco, Windham, and Brayton.

Dungey is cruising out front. But Hill and Villopoto are battling. Two corners before the halfway point, in a tight left hand corner, Villopoto goes inside Hill. And stops briefly : ) but makes the pass none-the-less. It’s now Dungey leading, Villopoto second, Josh Hill third. It’s all that matters right now. At the end of lap 11, right before the finish jump, Dungey crashes! He gets the bike going again before Villopoto can pass! But he slows a few moments later to check out the bike ….. Ryan Villopoto is now leading! Josh Hill is second. Davi Millsaps is third ….. Dungey is fourth.

At the end of the 20 lap main event, it’s Ryan Villopoto, riding the number 2 Kawasaki, winning his first 450 Supercross event of the season! Josh Hill with a very nice second place and another podium finish, Davi Millsaps gets third, and Ryan Dungey hangs on with fourth, Andrew Short fifth. Dungey still leads the point standings as the series head to San Diego next week!

Race winner Ryan Villopoto said: I went into the main with a good gate pick. I didn’t get the start that I wanted, but I got up to third pretty quickly. Josh Hill and I went back and forth for a little bit. I was able to get around him and out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan Dungey go down and I thought ‘it is on now’. I took the lead and I made up some points this weekend. Hill and I battled back and forth. He ran me high after the finish line and I got into the tuff blocks a little bit. It wasn’t too bad. It was all racing. I didnt know if Dungey was going to be able to get back or not. I pushed to build a gap so I could get the win. The track was tough, and you had to be smooth and perfect. It was slippery and rutty.